When Mu Yue got home, the systems had almost finished documenting the incident involving the girl they had run into at the police station earlier.
While soaking in the bath, Mu Yue flipped through their records.
The girl was also a college student, from a pretty well-off family — similar to Lin Xiaoxiao's family before it went bankrupt. Her family doted on her, and she had a great social life; her friends and roommates were all decent people, so she had barely encountered any bad people or dangerous situations before, which left her rather lacking in vigilance.
She met that male model streamer online. During their private chats, the streamer kept talking about how tough his family was, spinning a very typical sob story: a gambling-addicted father, a sick mother, a younger sister who was still in school, and his own pitiful self. The girl believed him, and even started dating the male model. She was super active in tipping and boosting his rankings on his streams.
And finally, this time, the male model lured her over.
After getting her drunk, there was actually more he had planned that the girl had no idea about. The male model arranged for a few of his colleagues to play the bad guys, who made indecent, groping moves on her while she was out of it. Then the male model himself showed up, acting like he was there to save her, shielding her and helping her get dressed. The whole process was filmed by people the male model had arranged, and those guys who played the part all got a nice payout for their work.
What the male model didn't expect was that this young girl was not the type to spend money recklessly. The second she saw the bill, she realized she had fallen into a setup and been scammed. She not only called the police, but also got in touch with her parents.
Mu Yue clicked on the male model's photo. He did have a vaguely roguish, charming look, but his eyes were full of greed, and he came across as utterly sleazy. Right now the male model had already gone on the run, and the police were in the middle of a manhunt for him.
Mu Yue wasn't sure if this male model was a key character in the original story, but the unwritten rule for villains like her was to never let a suspect slip through the cracks. Besides, this scumbag deserved to be punished by law anyway, so she had the systems lock onto him across the entire internet, and report him the second he showed his face, to lighten the cops' workload a little.
After her bath, Mu Yue slept soundly and had no dreams all night. When day broke, she got up feeling completely refreshed.
Right after she woke up, good news came: the male model had been caught at 4:30 that morning, tipped off by the systems to the police. Even better, Mu Yue earned another 1,500 points.
These points came from the Villain System. Even though there was no explicit notification, it was clear proof that Mu Yue hadn't let this fish get away — this male model was exactly the playboy who would have become the protagonist's lackey in the original harem novel.
Mu Yue praised every single one of her systems thoroughly. If it weren't for them, following the plot of the original story, this guy would most likely have gotten away scot-free, and would have gone on to scam even more women out of their money, bodies, and feelings over the next year or two. Just like that creep Spade, he would have destroyed countless families. Trash like this deserved to be cleaned up for good.
Thinks he can get by just on his face? A kept man, huh? Well, once he's behind bars, he's in for a real treat.
Mu Yue was even a little curious, wondering which facility the male model would end up in, and if he'd get to meet his "big brothers" there. If that somehow happened, it'd be one heck of a fated reunion.
But that would have to wait for the legal process to play out — it was something to look forward to.
After breakfast, Mu Yue stayed home to wait for various brands to deliver the gowns she had ordered. The gowns were meant for a charity gala she was going to attend. She already had a whole collection of gowns in her wardrobe, most of which she had only worn a couple of times at most, but well, you can never have too many new clothes. Now that she had a brand new manor, she had tons of extra space to store even more clothes. Besides, she had to pick something that suited the season and the gala's theme — something overly grand and ornate would definitely feel out of place.
While waiting, Mu Yue went over the check-in records from the past month.
After buying Maple Ridge Manor, she still had a good amount of money left. She invested a portion of it in Wen Xue, then earned more through the system's daily check-ins later on. Right now, she still had 300 million yuan in her bank account. As for her points, there were only two major expenses: the permanent version of the insect and mosquito repellent tool that Mu Yue had been reluctant to buy in full last summer, and the monthly installments for it. But the returns she got from her actions almost covered all her spending. Points came pouring in from the male and female leads, the city of A, the entertainment industry, and the newly arrested lackey of the protagonist, plus the points she got from check-in draws. Her total points still sat steadily at over 30,000.
All in all, she was doing extremely well for herself.
Among the blind boxes she opened this month, one gave her a triple deposit card — though it only applied to deposits of 10 million yuan or less. The rest were mostly fun little gimmick props and some useless junk.
The "junk" items were those absurdly overpriced, completely impractical works of abstract art. Their materials were cheap, their shapes were weird and totally lacking in aesthetic appeal, and they weren't even safe to have around. Mu Yue couldn't be bothered to take them out of the system space, so she just sold them all back directly in the system mall. She didn't get much for them, but it was better than cluttering up her house with that garbage.
Just when Mu Yue thought her luck this month was pretty mediocre, she hit the jackpot at the very end of the month: a rare metal mine.
The mine came with full legal contracts and all the proper certification. The second Mu Yue clicked to use the item, the mine would be 100% hers. The item description stated clearly that this mine brought in a whopping 8 billion yuan in profit every year.
When Mu Yue pulled out the prop card and clicked to activate it, she couldn't help but laugh out loud. Great, now she literally owned a mine.
It was a large-scale mining operation, with a maximum operational lifespan of no more than 30 years, and there were still 23 valid years left on its lease. The previous owner never discovered the truly valuable ore hidden in the mine. He poured too much money into the early operations, only to dig up cheap, low-value metals, and on top of that his company got crushed under a mountain of debt, so he ended up running away.
Because everyone in the industry knew for years that the mine only produced worthless ore, its annual maintenance cost was way higher than any revenue it could bring in, so no one ever wanted to take it over. The truth was, if that old owner had just hung on a little longer, he would have hit the jackpot in no time. Too bad, he just wasn't fated to get that fortune.
And now, this huge gold mine was all Mu Yue's!
The second big prize she got wasn't a fixed asset like the mine, but its rarity and value were incredibly high — for Mu Yue, it was even more valuable than the mine.
A Five-Person Hitman Squad.
Its introduction was short and sweet, with three glittering golden SSS ratings.
All five of them had mastered their combat and assassination skills to absolute perfection, and each had their own unique specialty: tracking, weapons crafting, electronic tech expertise, vehicle mastery, and voice mimicry.
Wait, voice mimicry? Mu Yue couldn't help clicking on the last hitman's personal profile. Sure enough, he could seamlessly switch between all kinds of voices, from men and women to the elderly and little kids.
This squad was an absolute steal. Mu Yue had checked in the points mall before, and a single hitman card cost 30,000 points — and this was a whole squad that had trained and worked together perfectly!
Right now, Mu Yue didn't have any need to send them to kill anyone, but just having them around made her feel so much safer. This summer vacation, she was definitely bringing them along when she traveled, especially if she went abroad.
After admiring her assets once again to her heart's content, the representatives from various luxury brands arrived with the gowns they had brought along.
This charity gala would have a red carpet segment, so two to three gowns would be appropriate. Mu Yue picked a relatively simple, elegant design for herself, while the other two were selected by the stylist.
The gala was five days away. During this period, Mu Yue went to Shi Yu's place for a meal once. It was Shi Yu's own apartment, with neither her biased grandmother nor her spoiled younger brother around. Shi Yu had arranged this meal herself to celebrate—her career was now fully stable, and all the leeches from her family had been cleaned out, a feat she owed no small thanks to Mu Yue for.
Last time, when they had bought that jadeite stone, those uncles and elders from the Shi family had been meddling in Shi Yu's affairs. When she returned to City A, those troublemakers not only showed no remorse or guilt, but even egged her grandmother on to pressure her.
Shi Yu did not put up with their nonsense. She told them that if they did not want to end up in prison, they would all get out of the group company immediately. Shi Yu's attitude was unyielding. The emotional manipulation and moral blackmail from her relatives did get on her nerves, but they never changed her resolve. In the end, those good-for-nothing leeches had to cave in.
They had no choice but to give in. Shi Yu would not budge for either kindness or harshness, and she did not give them any extra time to hesitate. She made it clear that if they did not make up their minds by the deadline, she would call the police right away. Not only would they be sent behind bars, Shi Yu also declared that she would sell off all her shares, quit the group entirely, and start her own business from scratch.
That was when they truly panicked. Who was actually competent and who was just lazing around reaping benefits without working might be unclear to a few muddleheaded fools, but most people with eyes could see perfectly well. If the group lost Shi Yu, there was no guarantee that the huge sums of money they got every year would not shrink drastically.
After this incident, Shi Yu's standing in the group rose dramatically, and she gained the highest say in the entire family. The older generation's power grab had failed, and the younger generation who wanted to make a name for themselves now all had to rely on her as their big sister.
Mu Yue congratulated her. After the two chatted for a while, Shi Yu even mentioned that she had been seeing a younger guy lately. At first she had found it fresh and fun, but she figured she would get tired of him soon.
Mu Yue blinked and asked, "How come?"
Shi Yu waved her hand dismissively. "He's too young, and can't hide his ambitions at all. He keeps trying to act like he's my official boyfriend to make all kinds of demands of me, throws petty tantrums all the time, and expects me to coddle him whenever he wants. I'm sick of it."
Mu Yue took a sip of her fruit wine and smiled faintly. "That does sound really annoying. Even acting cute and coquettish has to fit the mood. If someone has no sense of propriety and makes you go out of your way to coddle them instead, that's just exhausting."
"Exactly," Shi Yu agreed. She really did feel worn out. The whole point of seeing a younger guy was to relax, not to pick up extra burdens. Men so easily lose sight of their own worth—give them a little kindness, and they start acting like you're head over heels for them and can't live without them.
When Mu Yue left Shi Yu's place, she was in a great mood. Now that they had broken away from the original story's plot, Shi Yu no longer had to stay celibate for some mediocre man who had a string of women on the side, nor would she lose her mind over him and let him mess up her emotions.
This was the life that should have belonged to Shi Yu all along.
Thinking of this, Mu Yue glanced over at how Wang Jian was doing. Right now he was practically a mummy, wrapped head to toe in bandages, lying on a hospital bed sobbing quietly.
New injuries were layered over old ones on his body. His right foot was swollen high, purple and red all over, looking extremely serious. One of his eyes was completely covered by bandages, and the area around his other eye was dotted with small marks. The little finger on his right hand was missing, and one of his front teeth had been knocked out.
The doctor next to him frowned as he checked his condition, talking to the prison guard beside him. From what Mu Yue could overhear, they were arranging to transfer Wang Jian to a different prison.
Mu Yue was surprised, but at the same time not all that shocked. The male lead was in such a terrible state, yet she still hadn't received her grand prize points, which meant he still had a sliver of hope. For a guy with no background who had offended such a powerful figure, to still get transferred to another prison—his protagonist halo must be working overtime to keep him alive, wasn't it?
The current plot was completely different from the original novel. All those female confidantes who were supposed to help the male lead climb to success either didn't know him at all, or saw him as their enemy. Three members of his supposed core group of allies had already ended up in prison too. Where was his hope supposed to come from? That hot, muscular mercenary woman?
That mercenary was on the run herself. In the original story, she would have died if the male lead hadn't saved her. Now the male lead was locked up in prison and she was abroad. Not to mention the timeline hadn't even reached that part yet, even if the male lead wanted to save her, he couldn't—he could barely keep himself safe right now.
But Mu Yue wasn't in a hurry. She knew Wang Jian was getting transferred, and she wasn't the one who would be the most upset about it. That would be the Tang family and the Witch.
She wondered if those two parties had gotten the news yet. Well, she might as well do them a favor, and pass this information on to them for free.
